New Orleans Mission Trip Days 3 and 4

Posted Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Last night our group had the divine privilege of cooking hot dogs for a village of homeless New Orleans citizens. This experience was both heartbreaking and eye opening. As a group we were able to fellowship with people that lost everything as a result of hurricane Katrina. Personally, I was blessed with the opportunity of conversing with an older woman who was without a home. The woman’s name was Debra and the conversation I had with her was life altering. Debra opened up to me about her past and her life under the bridge. She informed me that sleeping on the unforgiving pavement has broken her ribs, and causes unbearable pain. Through the heart wrenching details of her life, I was remained of the purpose of my life: to serve others. Debra opened my eyes to the reality of the world of homelessness and began to break my bonds of individualism and selfishness. I’m forever thankful for Debra, and I speak for the whole team in saying this experience was life changing.

-Andy Anderson

Today our groups went to the same places we have been for most of the week. Keona, Shelby, Clay, Andy, Ryan, and Gail all went to the Tinner home and we continued to scrape paint off of the outside of the house so it can be repainted soon. We also began to clean the interior of the home. The plumber and electrician are finished in the home so we cleaned up all of the debris they left behind. We swept and vacuumed the entire house. We also moved more bricks away and pulled all of the stumps out of the yard. We also continued our “prayer walks.” We walked down the streets and talked to whomever we met and were able to pray with several people we met. Heidi, Cole, Luke, Isaac, Cody, and Dr. Watterson continued to put mud in the same house we had been working on. We had the privilege to have lunch provided by the homeowners. Once again today we were able to form relationships with community members.